Emperor of Ashes
by Redtailedfox
Summary: Days before Starkiller base swallows a sun and destroys the Hosnian system, General Hux ruminates on his greatest desire- the Republic in shambles, with him as Emperor of the ashes. Hints of Kylo/Hux


He knows what they see when they look at him. He hears the whispers behind his back, murmuring of his inexperience and disgraceful youth. He observes the open doubt in their eyes, the contemptuous twitch of their lips. He holds no illusions towards the depth of their blatant disrespect for him. When the military elite (and even some of his own crew) think of General Hux, they think very little at all. To them he is an untested child, carried to his current position through the grace of a good name and little else. He has only partaken in the most meager scraps of leftover combat- some cleanup duty from a small Resistance attack here, a couple skirmishes with pirates there. To the First Order, his is unworthy.

But Hux is unconcerned. In due time, they will see something else entirely. His beautiful machine has borne fruit, Starkiller base is fully ( _finally_ ) operational. When he closes his eyes at night he can almost imagine he can hear the great, deadly hum of the magnificent engine buried in the core of the planet that will soon lead the First Order to a final, decisive victory (although maybe that's simply the abominable static buzz of Kylo Ren's lightsaber, laying waste to yet another expensive console). Thanks to him, they will strike at the heart of the Republic and at last land a deathblow to the resistance.

Hux feels gratitude (an emotion he so rarely experiences it takes him a while to recognize it, and even longer to place a name to it) stirring within him. He feels gratitude to the dutiful men and women that have labored for so long on Starkiller base. They are the often overlooked backbone of Snoke's army, the essential cogs needed for the great machine of the First Order to function, from the sanitation workers to the engineers to the analysts and even the poor bastards forced to bear the brunt of Kylo Ren's volatile temper. They are good soldiers (this is the highest compliment Hux can think to give) and he will personally see to it that they will be duly rewarded for their dedication and service.

In no more than a few days, when the other officers of the fleet think of him they will think of the leader who, with the flip of a switch, annihilated trillions, and in doing so delivered the galaxy into the hands of the First Order. Perhaps when the sky above Starkiller base is alight with the fire of a swallowed sun, even that impetuous, destructive whelp _Ren_ (Hux's teeth instinctively grit at the mere thought of the man) will acknowledge his power.

Power is something General Hux very much desires. He was trained and indoctrinated as much as any of his soldiers, and his father long ago ingrained in him a fierce ambition. It is Hux's ambition more than his name that has carried him this far. Perhaps it will carry him farther still. _These_ thoughts he will never voice. These thoughts will never see the light of day; they stay buried in the deepest corners of his mind, submerged so deeply even Kylo Ren himself would be hard-pressed to pry them out. These are treacherous, dangerous thoughts. These are thoughts of power beyond his reach. In these thoughts Supreme Leader Snoke is dead, and Hux controls First Order in his wake. In these thoughts Hux is Emperor (a title nobody since Palpatine, not even Snoke, has been worthy of holding) and a thousand star systems bow before him. In these thoughts Hux has brought order to a chaotic galaxy, and his power is so vast that when he will look to the stars he will know that nestled in those far-flung constellations and distant nebulae are beings whose lives he could snuff out in a second. Upon the ashes of the Republic he will build a glorious Empire that will stand a million years, an immutable order that will be stronger then durasteel, strong enough to withstand any conflict. He will rule with an iron fist, and his Stormtroopers will enforce his will- an immense spread of white, shiny death across a hundred remote planets.

One day, the galaxy will finally be at peace, an order crafted and maintained through the strength of the First Order. And Hux will serve as the face and ruler of the First Order, and trillions of creatures will kneel before him, even Kylo Ren (though Hux admits the thought of Ren unmasked and on his knees in supplication excites him for a very _different_ sort of reason). Perhaps one day Hux will be the most powerful man in the galaxy. His fellow officers do not see it now. …And Hux does not care. They will not need to. Hux has already surpassed them all, and when the sun flare of a harnessed star consumes the Hosnian system perhaps they will begin to recognize it. Either way, he will stand triumphant.


End file.
